$100 Spending Money at Disney World

By Jennifer, on December 17th, 2013

Aunt Nancy gave each of the children $100 to spend while we were at Disney World. My prediction going into the week was that Wyatt would quickly spend all of his money, Juliana would be very careful about her purchases but spend the money if she found something she really wanted, and Ruslan would take the longest time to find things to buy.

We didn’t tell the children in advance that they had spending money and for the first day they were so busy on rides and deciding what to do next that they didn’t even ask for anything in the stores.

The second day we rode Splash Mountain after lunch and when we walked through the store at the end of the ride, Wyatt spotted a Brer Rabbit stuffed animal. So we explained that they each had an envelope with spending money and if they found something that they wanted, they had to use their own money.

Wyatt agreed that he wanted to buy Brer Rabbit and Ruslan wanted one as well. Juliana immediately remembered a few things that she saw at a store that morning so we agreed that we would stop on our way out later in the day.

The last ride of the day was Buzz Lightyear and both boys picked out a Toy Story toy. That was Ruslan’s last purchase of the trip. Later that night at the hotel, Wyatt also purchased a set of Toy Story cars.

Thursday at Hollywood studios Juliana bought a pin and that wrapped up her spending. Wyatt spent the remainder of his money on a Star Wars set.

I really like this concept of giving each child a set amount of spending money and having it in cash so there is a tangible reminder in each envelope.

[…] I wasn’t thrilled about adding another stuffed animal to the many in our home, but it was his money to spend. I thought that it would be like the others – loved for a week and then discarded. Instead […]